Fayemi Says Atiku’s Petrol Subsidy Promise Is a 2027 Political Strategy

Former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has described Atiku Abubakar’s promise to restore petrol subsidy as a political strategy designed to appeal to Nigerians struggling with the economic fallout of subsidy removal.

Speaking during an interview on Arise TV, Fayemi said the proposal was not primarily an economic policy but a political calculation ahead of the 2027 presidential election. He compared it to the All Progressives Congress’ decision to field a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket during the 2023 election.

“My take is that Atiku’s proposal on subsidy is the political equivalent of our own Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023. It’s a political strategy. It’s not an economic construct,” Fayemi said.

Atiku, who has indicated his interest in contesting the 2027 presidential election, recently said he would restore petrol subsidy if elected. The former vice-president has also criticised the Federal Government over the management of funds saved following the removal of the subsidy.

He argued that the savings should have been used more effectively to reduce poverty and support development across the country. President Bola Tinubu, however, dismissed the proposal, describing it as evidence of “serious ignorance” of governance and the economy.

Atiku later clarified that he was not proposing a return to the former subsidy regime. He said his plan involved a targeted, capped and budgeted intervention that would be independently audited and structured to support domestic production.

Fayemi acknowledged that the proposal could resonate with Nigerians facing rising living costs and economic hardship. “But understandably, it is a political strategy that will sell with those who are hard done by the impact of fuel subsidy removal,” he said.

The former governor maintained that he supported the removal of petrol subsidy and had advocated the policy for years. However, he criticised the Tinubu administration’s handling of its implementation, arguing that adequate protection was not provided for poor and vulnerable Nigerians before the policy took effect.

Fayemi said much of the groundwork for subsidy removal had already been completed under former President Muhammadu Buhari. He added that the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, the Federal Government and the World Bank had previously worked on a social safety-net strategy to cushion the impact on those most likely to suffer.

“What President Tinubu inherited, in fairness to him, was the work that had already been completed by that [Buhari] administration. The only challenge it had was the way it was done,” he said.

According to Fayemi, many vulnerable Nigerians are less concerned about the technical arguments surrounding subsidy policy than their ability to afford food, education and healthcare.

“Frankly, they [poor Nigerians] don’t want to go into the minutiae of subsidy removal and no subsidy removal. They just want to live reasonably well, eke out a living, have one or two meals a day, be able to send their kids to school, not be taken in by sickness or anything that might create further problems for them,” he said.

Fayemi said the hardship facing many Nigerians had created an opening for opposition politicians to promote policies that speak directly to immediate economic concerns. He argued that Atiku’s subsidy proposal should therefore be viewed through the lens of political strategy as the 2027 election approaches.

“So I think the way we saw Muslim-Muslim ticket as a political strategy in order to maximise the vote for our party in 2023, I believe that’s what the opposition candidate is also trying to take advantage of,” Fayemi said.

The APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023 saw Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from the South-West, choose Kashim Shettima, a Muslim from the North-East, as his running mate—a decision that generated intense debate over religious representation and Nigeria’s diversity.